The FIBA Polynesian Cup basketball tournament officially kicked off yesterday at the National University of Samoa gym. The host Samoa, Cooks Islands, Tahiti, American Samoa and Tonga will go head-to-head in the six-day tournament. The tournament will feature both men’s and women’s teams and will use a round robin format in the group stage, with the top four teams qualifying for the finals.

Rupi Taituuga is among the local designers getting behind Miss Samoa, Sonia Piva, as she begins her mission to bring the Miss Pacific crown to Samoa. Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Rupi said he is delighted to have been able to help Ms. Piva, who is leaving for Tonga this week.

Supreme Court Justice and representative of the Pacific region on the Committee on the Rights of the Child (C.R.C), Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, has congratulated Leilua Lino. Leilua is one of the three finalists for the International Children’s Peace Prize 2018.

Pacific Rim leaders at a key Asian summit failed to reach agreement on a joint declaration on world trade for the first time in nearly three decades, highlighting the growing tensions between China and the U.S.

Cook Islands' veteran-savvy overwhelmed a young Samoa side in the Women's Division of the 2018 Polynesian Cup to take a commanding 80-47 victory. The ladies in green kept their defensive pace high, hounding the host nation with their full-court pressure defense.

Beating world champion New Zealand gave Ireland "reassurance," lock Iain Henderson said on Monday. Two days after toppling the All Blacks 16-9 for the first time at home, Henderson said the team's prime motivation was not to be a one-win wonder.

Attempts by two unidentified men, who tried to attack Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa’ilele Malielegaoi in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday night has shocked the nation and triggered condemnation from various fronts. Our reporter Yolanda Lavata’i speaks to the public to get their views on the issue.

Times have changed and so have people. There is absolutely no doubt about that regardless of whether we are talking about Samoans or any other ethnic group.
Here on these shores, while we’d like to think that Samoans are civilised people and that our actions will always be dictated by fa’aaloalo, ava fatafata and alofa, we must accept it’s not all that way anymore. For some people.

Samoa needs to hold free sex education programmes on safe sex and make condoms available for free so people can protect themselves. We can’t stop people from doing what they are doing but we can educate people on making the right choices so they can protect themselves.

Singer-songwriter and albino activist Salif Keita assembled an international forum on protecting albino people in Africa and dedicated a benefit concert to a 5-year-old albino girl who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in Mali in May.